Coke and KFC in North Korea Rumor Kicks the Bucket

The United States is still unhappy with North Korea for its apparent bombing of a South Korean ship last year. And let's not forget that the country doesn’t have what you might call a stellar human-rights record. And, if that weren’t enough, North Korea’s head honcho Kim Jong-il is considered by most to be a complete lunatic.

But the Almighty Dollar is strong and there are more than 24 million people who live there. Surely, they need some fried chicken ... and something to wash it down with? A BC reader down under flags this nugget: a report by Australian broadcaster ABC that KFC and Coca-Cola “will open outlets in the communist North later this year.”

After the Associated Press was recently allowed to open an office in the country, which prefers to be known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, word circulated that the Colonel and Coke are being welcomed.

“Executives from both American firms visited North Korea (in July) after being invited by Pyongyang's foreign investment office,” ABC reported with an implied raised eyebrow. “If true, the decision to allow symbols of American capitalism into the closed communist state would mark an opening up by North Korea.”

While both KFC and Coke are popular in South Korea, it turns out neither brand is on its way to the DPRK. According to the Korea Herald (via Asia News Network),

The Coca-Cola Company officially denied the local news reports on making inroads into the North Korean market. “No representative of The Coca-Cola Company has been in discussions or explored opening up business in Pyongyang, North Korea," Kent Landers, a PR official of the company, told the Korea Herald via email.

Meanwhile, Park Chul-soo, president of Chosun Daepoong Group also denied the rumor that Coca-Cola and KFC would enter North Korea. “It is nonsense that Coca-Cola and KFC will open a store in Pyongyang,” he said in an interview with a Yonhap correspondent in Beijing. Chosun Daepoong Group is North Korea’s major channel for attracting foreign investment.

Indeed, even ABC pointed out that most of those millions of people living in the country wouldn’t be able to afford to buy a Coke or visit a KFC for a meal.